Main Menu
Join Undercurrent on Facebook

The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975 | |
For Divers since 1975
The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975
"Best of the Web: scuba tips no other
source dares to publish" -- Forbes
X
 

Dive Review of Aggressor Liveaboard in
Philippines/Visayas

Aggressor Liveaboard: "Phillippines Agrgrressor- Maiden Voyage", Nov, 2022,

by Laura Tesler, OR, US (Reviewer Reviewer 3 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 12168.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 5 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 4 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments The crew on this boat were some of the nicest most hard-working people you will ever know and meet so I can't say enough good things about them. I really liked the HUGE cabins, nice beds, we had a porthole, huge bathrooms, etc. The dive deck was great and clean, nice fills, always spot on 32%. The pangas and the operators were great and carried all my stuff as my knees are very bad and I can't carry my unit down to the pangas off the boat right now. I really appreciated that. Food was plentiful and at times interesting as they mixed in some traditional Filipino food. Lots of fruit! Portions were so huge! Here is what I didn't like: the "group diving”, at times I felt like I was being ushered along, I have a big camera and I go really slowly, and I felt like I was always trying to catch up to the group, I hated that. I also wish they would segregate people with annoying GoPros away from people with real cameras as people with GoPros don’t understand that they can’t stick their Gopro into your frame when you’re shooting and also kick sand all over your shot. In general, most people who have a GoPro have no photography etiquette whatsoever, so those folks should be in their own “group” far away from the serious shooters and then everyone is happy. We spent too much time diving at Malapusca, two dives are enough to see the thresher sharks, they were cool, but you can’t use lights or strobes so…four dives were too many and boring as there is nothing to see there other than the sharks. Diving Oslob is a total waste of time as for an hour all you do is wait on the bottom and stare up at legs of snorkelers and the bottoms of whale sharks as they are being hand fed. That’s a waste of my time and money. We should have spent that time diving great sites like Sumilon or Apo. Apo was simply amazing, and we could have dove there many more time than 4 times we did. The night dives were my favorite, so much to see. Also charging us $30 a person for a ride to the airport was pretty outrageous (they reduced the cost after we squawked a bit) and the hotel they want you to stay in at Cebu City is a dump located right at the airport that’s really noisy. We didn’t want to stay there, so the Aggressor people wanted to charge us a lot of money to take us to the ship. There was a lot of coral bleaching in some areas and there were fish traps and people fishing in “protected” areas, makes one wonder what the marine park fees are going for. I also would not recommend going in October or November as we got caught in a typhoon at the end and that made getting out of Manila impossible and delayed departure for three days. I would advise avoiding Manila airport, especially terminal 4, at all costs.
Websites Aggressor Liveaboard   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Honduras, Mexico, Indonesia, California, British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, Bonaire, Red Sea
Closest Airport Cebu City Getting There Best to fly into Cebu City or Dumugeute and avoid Manila if posisble

Dive Conditions

Weather rainy, cloudy Seas calm, surge, currents
Water Temp 86-88°F / 30-31°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions "Group" diving
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks > 2
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 3 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 2 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments They also need better camera set up on the dive deck as I had to carry my camera up and down flights of stairs numerous times a day and that got old.
Was this report helpful to you?
Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here
 

Subscribe Now
Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 558 dive reviews of Philippines and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

 
Featured Links from Our Sponsors
Interested in becoming a sponsor?
Reef & Rainforest, Let our experience be your guide -- Reef and Rainforest
Reef & Rainforest
is an agency for travelers that scuba dive. We specialize in planning scuba diving adventures to the Philippines.

Want to assemble your own collection of Philippines reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home


Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email.
And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent

Free Undercurrent Issue
Get a free
monthly email and
a sample issue!


Find in  

| Home | Online Members Area | My Account | Login | Join |
| Travel Index | Dive Resort & Liveaboard Reviews | Featured Reports | Recent Issues | Back Issues |
| Dive Gear Index | Health/Safety Index | Environment & Misc. Index | Seasonal Planner | Blogs | Free Articles | Book Picks | News |
| Special Offers | RSS | FAQ | About Us | Contact Us | Links |

Copyright © 1996-2024 Undercurrent (www.undercurrent.org)
3020 Bridgeway, Ste 102, Sausalito, Ca 94965
All rights reserved.

Page computed and displayed in 0.16 seconds